Faith Like Potatoes
by JakunenNeesan
Summary: All it takes is just a little faith. an entry for CONTESTS! YAY!
1. Chapter 1

A three-shot entry for _CONTESTS! YAY!_ The theme this time is _summer_.

Disclaimer: I do not own _Harvest Moon_ or the title _Faith Like Potatoes_, it's the name of a movie that gave me this inspiration.

* * *

I wiped the sweat off my forehead just as I finished planting. It took a lot of work, especially in this summer heat, but hey, it's done.

"Max!" I called, "Max! Come here boy!"

A brown and white dog bounded towards the field that I was kneeling in, his tongue flapping in the wind.

I picked the dog up with ease, scratching behind his ear playfully. "Just wait Maxie-boy, we are going to have ourselves the greatest potatoes Mineral Town has ever seen!"

Max barked happily, cocking his head to the side.

I laughed lightly at his happy-go-lucky expression. I ruffled the top of his head, then set him down. I stood up, brushing the dirt off my denim overalls for a moment before I reached down to pick up my rucksack, hauling it over my shoulder.

"Be a good boy Max! I'll be in town for a bit so behave yourself!" I said to my dog as I started walking towards the entrance into town.

I walked down the cobble-stoned path, with small clouds of dust trailing behind my feet. That's not too unusual, but this summer has been the hottest so far in the past five years that I've been here. So I couldn't really tolerate any dust or whatever that might ruin my plants. More dust means the hotter and dryer the weather, which makes it tougher for my potatoes to grow. Also there hasn't been much of rain for the past several weeks.

I passed Saibara's shop, up to Aja's Winery, where I turned right. I headed towards Doug's Inn, and went inside.

I walked up to the counter, where Doug was serving other customers. I sat on the empty stool near the end.

"Hello Claire, what can I get you?" Doug asked pleasantly.

"Hmmm…" I rubbed my chin with my thumb for a few moments, thoughtful. "What's your special for today?"

"'Baked Corn Supreme', as always." He replied.

"Okay then, I'll go with that."

"I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Sure thing," I answered back. I began fiddling with a stray of my long blond hair. I twirled it around my slender index finger one direction, then the opposite direction.

"Heeeey Claire!" A cheerful voice cried, interrupting my fiddling.

I looked over my right shoulder and saw Popuri skipping lightly on her feet, over to where I was sitting. She leaned on the counter with her elbow, flipping her rosy hair over her shoulder, smiling hysterically. I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes. Popuri isn't exactly my favourite person.

"Hi."

"Guesswhatguesswhatguesswhat!" She rushed out.

I shrugged my shoulders in response.

Popuri bounced up and down, excited. "You'll never know what just happened!" She squealed.

"What?"

The pinkette held out her left hand in giddiness. I looked at it briefly. My eyes were drawn to a blue feather that faintly glowed from the sunlight streaming in from the windows. The dust motes swirling around it.

"What about it? It's just a plain old feather." I commented casually. Popuri can get excited over the littlest things.

She gawked at me as if I was the most clueless person in the world.

"It's not just any feather, it's a _blue_ feather!" She said as a matter-of-fact.

"A _blue_ feather, yaaaay…" I waved my index finger in a circular motion, emphasizing my sarcasm.

"Claire, it's a _blue feather_!" Popuri repeated herself.

"Your point?"

Popuri sighed. "It means I'm engaged! Kai proposed!"

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "You people use a feather to propose? What happened to good old fashioned engagement rings?"

Doug reappeared from the kitchen. "Here you go." He said, placing the food in front of me. I began to eat.

Popuri stroked the feather lovingly. I had to stop myself again from rolling my eyes.

"It's an old tradition…" She murmured.

I continued to eat my baked corn. I hadn't much of a kitchen yet, so this is where I usually ate.

"So…how are things on your farm?" Popuri asked.

"It's fine," I said in-between bites.

"Must be hard, in this dreadful summer heat." she dramatized.

"It doesn't bother me much."

"I heard it's not going to rain until mid-fall." She commented.

I sipped some water. "Hmm."

"How are you going to make it?" Popuri continued, tucking her feather away.

"What do you mean?"

"She means, how are you going to make money or even eat for that matter if your crops don't grow?" Someone else explained.

I looked to see Gray sitting on a another stool down a ways.

I raised an eyebrow. "My potatoes will be fine."

"Pffft," He smirked. "How will you be even able to tell? You can't see the potatoes until you harvest them."

"I have faith," I said, smiling a little.

"Faith doesn't grow potatoes." Gray grumbled a little at my optimism, as he gulped down a drink.

"You never know."

"Oh God, now you're beginning to sound like Cliff." He complained, a little frustrated. Popuri rolled her eyes.

"There's nothing wrong with that." I said, defending my friend.

Popuri smirked a little. "Probably because you _like_ him!"

I choked on a portion of my food. It took me a moment after I spat into a napkin. "W-what?! That's stupid, I don't _like_ Cliff!"

Gray and Popuri laughed at my sudden red face.

I heard a loud creak from the staircase. "Y-you…you don't?" A voice commented faintly.

Oh crap.

"Cliff, that's not what I meant-" I tried to explain.

The young man held up his hand. "I know…d-don't bother. People hate my guts anyway…so, just…just don't…" He said quietly, he walked back up the stairs. Moments later I heard a door slam.

I groaned, slumping against the counter. "Thanks a lot guys." Popuri and Gray continued to laugh.

It's funny how much my mood changed in just one hour.

* * * A Little Later * * *

"Cliff!" I knocked on the door for what it felt like the hundredth time. "Cliff, please open the door!"

Silence.

"Cliff, you misheard me. I don't not like you, I do, we're friends, remember?" I sighed. "Popuri was just making a joke."

I pressed my ear to the door, still silence.

Frustrated, I walked back down stairs to the main floor. Popuri, and Gray were still laughing, a lot more quieter though, completely oblivious to anyone else's presence.

I went up to the counter and slammed my money by my unfinished plate. I walked out without another word.

* * *

Onwards to chapter two!


	2. Chapter 2

_Continued from chapter one._

* * *

* * * Two Weeks Later * * *

_Beep. Beep. Bee_p_…_

I turned my head on my pillow to see my digital clock screaming six o'clock. Groaning, I turned over to block out the noise, flipping a pillow over my head. I am in no way, in any form, a morning person. You'd think after three years waking up to that blasted thing every morning, I've would of gotten used to it.

I felt Max jumping up onto my bed, trying pull away the pale yellow covers.

"Five more minutes…" I mumbled, trying to shuffle him off with my feet. Max yelped a little when I finally managed to kick him off my bed, thudding to the floor.

I heard a knock on my door not a moment or two later. I pressed the pillow harder to my head. Who bothers people at this early hour anyway?

After a few minutes of consistent knocking, I gave up. Yawning, I got up, rubbing my eyes. I walked towards the door. "I'm coming, I'm coming," I'm mumbled.

I opened the door, to see Cliff, his fist up in the air, probably about to knock again. He lowered it quickly, a little embarrassed.

"Finally came out of your room I see…" I said while trying to stifle a yawn, only to fail at it. I'm not mad with what he did, heck I'd probably wouldn't go anywhere either, if I found out that my friends hated me. That's what depression does to people I guess. "It took you long enough."

Cliff looked down and shuffled his feet.

"Well…?" I asked, leaning on one leg for support, I was still quite tired. "Do you need something?"

"I…" He paused. "I just…w-wanted to…apologize…" He whispered.

"Oh?" I asked, shifting my weight to my other leg.

"I jumped to conclusions…I'm sorry that I…I didn't believe you." He trailed off.

I shrugged casually. "That's ok, I shouldn't of let Popuri get to my head, she has that way of annoying the crap out of me." I yawned again. "I'll see you later." I turned and started walking back into my house.

"W-wait!" Cliff exclaimed. I half turned, raising an eyebrow.

"What?"

"Um…that…that was not all I wanted t-to tell you."

"Oh?" I said while trying to comb through my tangled blond hair with my fingers, which probably made it worse.

"…T-today is the twenty-fourth…" He started to say, then paused again, rubbing the back of his neck for a moment.

I shrugged, confused.

"I-I would have asked you weeks ago…but I d-didn't know how…how to word it…"

I gave him a confused look. "Is that why you wouldn't speak to me for the past two weeks?" I asked, crossing my arms casually.

Cliff mumbled something I couldn't hear.

"Okay, Cliff your making absolutely no sense," I sighed. "Just forget it." I was about to turn again when Cliff blurted out something almost too jumbled to interpret that if I was another centimeter back, I would not of understood.

"Thefireworksfestivalistodaywillyougowithme?"

"Cliff, are you serious?" I asked, shocked.

Cliff's face turned red and nodded slightly.

I sighed. "Cliff, I'd love to go, but I'm not really an event go-er type of person. You've probably noticed that I don't even attend any of the festivals."

The young man stepped back, surprised. "I guess I-I understand…" He mumbled, looking towards the his feet again. He started to walk away. "I'll l-let you go back to sleep…"

Oh crap, I hurt his feelings again.

"Cliff," I called. "Come back." Cliff didn't get very far before he slowly walked back. Before he reached the front door, I said, "I know you wanted to go, but I know we could do something even better that I need your help with."

"O-oh?" He asked.

" I uh…I've still got several bags of potato seeds that still need to be planted. It-It'll take me all night if I do it alone." I explained out of the top of my head.

Cliff chuckled, shaking his head a little. "I should of known you would say that..."

"Okay, come after your work and we'll get started." I smiled.

"S-sure."

I closed the door, leaning against it. I looked at the clock. Six-forty-five. Hmmm…Maybe I'll sleep some more.

* * * Later * * *

I walked out of the chicken coop, a dozen eggs in my basket, as I headed for the shipment box. I lifted the lid carefully with one hand as I set the eggs in. Closing the lid, I looked up and saw Cliff just entering the yard. Right on cue.

"Hey Cliff!" I called, waving. He waved back shyly.

"So…what now?" He asked once we were within ten feet of one another.

"Hmmm…" I mused, my hand to my chin. "First, we'll need to get you in better clothes," I pointed to his ragged attire. "Planting will just ruin them more."

"T-these are all I have…" He explaine, trying to defend himself.

I walked towards my house. "I think I might have something that might help." I gestured for him to follow.

Once we were inside, I went to my dresser and began digging through it. Pink overalls, goodness no! Hmmm…"Aha!" I said, satisfied. I pulled out a pair of old jeans and a white shirt that were to big for me to wear. I tossed them to Cliff, which he caught with ease. "My brother's," I explained. "I don't wear them anyway, so you can have them."

"Uh…thanks…"

I closed the drawer. I reached across the top of the dresser and picked up a ponytail and I began tying it around my hair. Then I noticed Cliff just standing there, looking confused.

"What?" I asked.

"Um…where do I…y-you know…change…" He whispered at the last word, blushing a little.

"Oh!" I blushed a little as well. "There's a bathroom by the kitchen. Sorry about that." I pointed to the direction where the bathroom was with one hand, my hair in the other.

"Oh, uh…okay…t-thanks…" Cliff said quietly, walking in that direction.

I turned back towards the mirror, finishing my ponytail. I then braided my hair and tied it with another ponytail. It was a little messy, but hey, I didn't care.

By the time I was done, so was Cliff. He actually didn't look half bad. He kind of looked like my brother, all he needed was the cap, the handkerchief, and a haircut.

"Hmmm…" I grinned "Not bad."

Cliff looked away, trying not to smile.

I went over the tool box by my bed. I lifted up the lid and pulled out two dozen bags or so of potato seed. I also pulled out a pair of black and red gloves and reached them out to him. "Here, you'll need these. Things are going to get pretty dirty."

Cliff chuckled and grabbed the gloves.

I pulled out the rest of my things. Hoe, watering can, sickle, good I'm all set.

I closed the lid and picked up the tools. "Can you get those?" I gestured to the bags. "I'll carry these, they're a lot heavier."

"Okay."

We walked out towards the field, most of it already planted with dozens and dozens of potato seeds. We walked over near the farther half of the field, where that part was still empty, and yet filled with weeds.

I set the tools down. Cliff did the same with the bags. "Okay," I began to explain. "I'll begin by getting rid of the weeds with my sickle," I lifted my sickle for him to see. I swear I thought I heard him gulp. "Then you'll take that hoe over there and start tilling the ground like this," I pretended to till the ground with my sickle. "Once we're done we'll open up these bags of seeds and begin planting, and we'll water them. Sound easy enough?"

Cliff nodded quietly.

"Okay, lets get started."

* * *

_Onwards to the final chapter!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Final chapter, continued from chapter two._

_

* * *

_

"Phew!" Cliff and I said in unison, collapsing on the grass near the chicken coop. I don't think there was one inch of this field that wasn't either uprooted, tilled, planted, or watered. I wiped the sweat from my forehead with the back of my hand.

"I think I'll stick to picking grapes and making wine." Cliff said, panting a little. Over the past few hours, Cliff started to loosen up on his communication skills a little more. I didn't here him pause or stutter as much. I guess shouting frequently from across the field helps. Either that or he'd gotten used to talking to me.

I chuckled. "And to think, I have to do this every day, plus taking care of my animals."

"_Poor you_." He said sarcastically.

I laughed.

"Why did you do it?" He asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Did what?"

"Come to this farm, all by yourself. Surely your life wasn't that awful in the city."

"I was bored with my life, I did the same thing every single day, I was sick of it." I explained casually, shrugging my shoulders.

"So here's any different?" He asked.

"It was at first…" I trailed off.

"At first?"

I laid onto the grass, hands behind my head. "I don't know. I don't hate it here, but I think this place could use a little…" I paused, trying to think of the right word. "…_Life_, you know? Everything seems a bit dull."

"Welcome to my world." The young man said, laying on the grass as well, vertically across from where I was so that our heads nearly touched.

"…So why'd you come to Mineral Town Cliff? You didn't really explain it all that much since that winter a few years ago…" I shuddered as I remembered when I saw Cliff collapse right before my eyes.

"…"

"Cliff?" I stretched my head so I could see him, he looked a bit funny, in this upside-down perspective. His eyes were closed, and his mouth was pressed into a thin line. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry…"

"…No you didn't…" The dark-haired young man said after a minute. "I just-I don't know. I hated my life. My mother and I always fought, my father was never home, and my little sister was always in her own world."

I turned over onto my stomach. "I didn't know you had a sister, what was she like?"

Cliff sat up. "A lot like you…" He began.

"Oh?"

"She was sick of home too, so she ran away. I never heard from her again. She didn't even say good-bye…she was the only person I could confide to…until…" He explained, but trailed off again.

"Until, what?" I asked, curious.

"…U-until I met you…" He whispered.

I smiled and sat up, crossing my legs. "Really?"

"Yeah, you sort of remind me of her, she's the same age as you, same blue eyes, same positive attitude…most of the time."

I raised my eyebrows, surprised. It was weird to imagine someone the same age as I was, (twenty-one, in fact, for those of you who don't know) and was a lot like me. "Interesting," I said.

Just then we heard a loud noise, it sounded like it was almost as if someone took a large bag sealed with air, and burst it right next to our ears.

"What was that?!" I asked, half-panicking. I stood up and looked around frantically to find what was the source of the noise.

"Must be the fireworks starting," Cliff explained. He pointed east across the river, where there was a faint glow of the colour blue.

"Oh, I hadn't realized it had gotten that late!" I replied, looking at my watch. Eight-thirty.

"We still have time, why don't we go?" Cliff asked…again. He'd been kind of begging me that question for the past few hours, and like always, I gave him the same answer.

"You can go, I'll just stay here."

Cliff sighed. "Fine," He mumbled, finally giving up. "Never mind."

I couldn't help but grin as an idea suddenly hatched inside my head. I knew the perfect plan to make Cliff forget about those stupid fireworks.

"Hey Cliff, come over here for a minute," I called out to him. Cliff got up, still wearing my brother's clothes and came over to where I was, standing by the river.

"What?" He asked.

"I think I've dropped my pedometer in the water, but my arms are not long enough to reach it, do you think you could?" I asked sweetly.

"Uh…okay?" He replied, slightly unsure.

Once he was bent down on his knees to reach for it, I tiptoed behind him quietly.

"Hey Claire, I don't see it anyw-Ahhhh!" He screamed when I pushed him in.

He surfaced a moment later, spitting out water. I doubled over in laughter.

"That's not funny!" He complained. I continued to laugh.

"The-the look on you face…priceless!" I managed to say. I should of realized then that I was still too close to the river's edge.

"Oh really?" he said, trying to keep his face straight. "I think yours was even funnier!"

"What are you talking about?"

In a blink of an eye, Cliff grabbed one of my ankles and dragged me into the river with him.

* * * Six Days Later (Last Day of Summer) * * *

I traced the blade of my hoe with my index finger. Today was the day I would harvest my potatoes. It hadn't rained at all this summer, everyone was worried, but I wasn't. They thought there would be nothing there, but I'd prove them wrong. In fact, I invited the entire town to see my harvest.

I took a deep breath and walked outside of my house, where most of the people have gathered. A large majority of them were either snickering, shaking their heads, or looking impatient. The few who actually cared were already in the field, with their own hoes, thanks to Saibara and Gray. I was the one to start it off.

I closed the door behind me and walked towards the middle of the field. With the hot sun beating on my back, sweat trickling down my forehead, I swung the hoe over my shoulder and brought it down with as much strength as I could gather. After a few swings I laid the hoe down and began digging through the loose soil. It seemed like everyone held their breath once I started digging, the suspense shrouding the atmosphere.

A few moments later I felt my hand clasp over something large and solid.

I pulled back my hand slowly to reveal…the largest potato I had ever seen!

I gasped as if I couldn't believe it myself. I dropped the potato, and began to digging again, one by one, large potatoes started to pile by my side.

I realized that everyone was still waiting, so I grabbed a handful of potatoes and stood up, raising above my head as I shouted. "Potatoes! Potatoes! Look at these! They're huge! Come on guys, help me!"

Everyone shook their heads as if they couldn't believe it. Those who had the hoes began tilling and digging as well, bringing up more gigantic potatoes. Everyone was ecstatic, a large murmur of excitement began filling through the crowd.

"There's enough for everybody!" I proclaimed as I filled a basket full and brought them up to show everyone.

The murmur soon became talk, and the talk soon became cheers, whistles and shouts.

"Unbelievable!" Most of them said as they took some potatoes and examined them. "Impossible!"

Quite a few people mussed my hair or punched me in the shoulder, sending words of encouragement or compliments.

I walked up to where Gray and Popuri were standing, waving a potato in their stunned faces. "And you said faith doesn't grow potatoes!" I said, trying not to laugh, but I couldn't help but smirk.

Gray looked away, slightly red in the face, while Popuri twirled a strand of her fluffy pink hair, looking at her feet.

I walked away from them proudly, a smirk still playing on my lips.

"Claire!" I heard a familiar voice shout. I turned to see Cliff back in his old clothes running up to where I was. I waved enthusiastically.

"Hey!"

He stopped when we were within three feet with one another. "You were right!" He exclaimed.

"I know, eh?" I replied jokingly. "But I can't take _all _the credit. You've helped too."

The young man nodded happily. Then he did something I did not expect.

He kissed me.

I heard the crowd root and cheer behind me, but I didn't care.

Because that was a summer I would never forget.

* * *

_Thank-you for reading!_


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